Motor-vehicle.



No. 665,270. Patented'lan. I, :90].

W. N. RUMELY. moron VEHICLE.

(Application filed July 30, 1900.) (No Model.)

2 Sheets-Sheet I qgn' ' m. II) lllk Inventor Attorney was on. wow-urns" WASHINGTON u c No. 665,270. Patented Ian. I, I901.

- W. N. RUMELY.

MOTOR VEHICLE.

(Application filed July 30, 1900.)

( Modal!) 2 Sheets-Shoet 2.

l iilllllll Inventor a/a M Q b (A) sfi r27 Attornev N ITE ll WILLIAM N. RUMELY, OF LA PORTE, INDIANA.

MOTOR-VEHICLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 665,270, dated January 1, 1901.

Application filed July 30, 1900- Serial No. 25,228- (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM N. RUMELY, a citizen of the United States, residing at La Porte, La Porte county, Indiana, (post-office address La Porte, Indiana,) have invented certain new and useful Improvements in M0- tor-Vehicles, of which the followingis a specification.

This invention pertains to motor-vehicles, and relates to the mounting of the tractionwheels and motors; and the invention will be readily understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is an end elevation of the traction- Wheel axle of the motor-vehicle embodying my improvements, the nearer wheel appearing in face view, a portion of its center being broken away to exhibit the mechanism beyond it and a portion of its gear-rim appearing in vertical section in the plane of line b of Fig. 2; Fig. 2, a plan of the tractionwheel axle with one-wheel removed, the remaining wheel appearing in horizontal section in the plane of line a of Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, a rear elevation of the axle, both wheels being removed and the left-hand motor being also removed.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the tractionwheel axle; 2, forks formed rigidly at the ends thereof; 3, vertical pivots at the extremities of the forks; 4, a housing disposed within each fork and adapted to swivel therein upon the pivots 3, this housing having its body portion curved away from the axial line of pivots 3; 5, stub-axles for the traction-wheels, there being one of these stub-axles projecting outwardly from the body portion of each housing 4, the axis of the stub-axle intersecting the axis of vertical pivots 3; 6, the traction-wheels, of which one is to be mounted loosely upon each stub-axle, the general ver-,

teeth; 9, the axlenuts screwing upon the stub-axles and serving to retain the tractionwheels thereon; 10, washers interposed between the nuts and the outer thrust-surfaces of the hubs of the traction -wheels', these washers being splined upon the stub-axles, so as to prevent any unscrewing of the axle-nuts as an incident to the turning of the tractionwheels upon the stub-axles; 11, a bracketarm projecting rigidly forward from each of housings 4; 12, a brace connecting the outer portions of bracket-arms 11 and the inner portions of housings 4 and serving to stiffen the general swiveled structure; 13, a steering-rod vertically pivoted at its ends to the forward extremities of bracket-arms 11, the distance between the end pivot-s of the steering-rod being equal to that between the vertical pivots 3 at the opposite ends of the axle; 14, a steering-arm vertically pivoted to axle 1 and having its outer end pivoted to the steering-rod,

the distance between the end pivots of this steering-arm being equal to that between vertical pivots 3 and the pivots uniting bracketarms 11 to the steering-rod; 15, a steeringpost by means of which steering-arm 14 and the end structures controlled by it may be angularly adjusted; 16, a coupling member formed at the center of length of axle 1 and serving as means by which the axle may be given proper connection with the other structural parts of the vehicle, the coupling member being illustrated as a horizontal bearing permitting of angular lever-like movement of the axle with reference to such parts as the present structure may be connected with 1.7, brackets projecting rigidly rearward from housings 4; 18, a motor rigidly secured to the rear portion of each of the brackets 17, the motors in the present case being illustrated as electric motors; 19, the motor-shafts, and 20 pinions on the outer ends of the motor shafts and engaging the internal gears of the traction-wheels.

It is obvious that by shifting the steeringrod 13 endwise, as may be done by turning steering-post 15, the housings and all the parts carried by the housings, comprehending the traction-wheels and the motors, may be angularly adjusted, the wheels maintaining parallelism with each other and the motors maintaining a constant relationship to the wheels. The wheels may thus, while remaining parallel with each other, be turned oblique to a line at right angles to the axle, whereby the path of movement of the structure becomes oblique to such line, the steering thus being efiected by the angular adjustment of both the traction-wheels and the motors which drive them without disturbing the relationship between the traction-wheels and their motors.

It is to be observed in Fig. 2 that the vertical pivot-axes 3 and the wheel-tire and the internal gear 8 and driving-pinion 20 all lie in a common vertical plane intersecting the axis of stub-axle 5 regardless of the angular position of the wheel, the axial line of pivot 3, produced downwardly, cutting the periphery of the wheel at the point where the tire bears upon the ground and exerts its tractive force. Under these conditions the strains of driving and the reactive strains of traction have no tendency to disturb the angle to which the wheel may have been adjusted, and the load finds its support directly in the plane of driving and of swiveling for steering.

I claim as my invention In a motor-vehicle, the combination, substantially as set forth, of aninwardly-cut disk, an internal gear in the rim thereof, a yvheelrim concentric with said gear and in the plane thereof and connected by spokes with the rim of said disk, a hub at the center of said disk, a stub-axle engaging said hub, a housing rigidly connected with the inner end of said stub-axle and having arms extending outwardly and into said cupped disk above and below said stub-axle, a non-rotary axle having a fork straddling said housing and united to the arms thereof by vertical pivots in the common vertical plane of said wheel-rim and internal gear, a steering-arm projecting from said housing and carrying a pivot in the common vertical plane of said wheel-rim and internal gear and vertical pivots, a steering-rod pivoted to said steering-arm, a motor-arm projecting from said housing in a direction opposite said steering-arm, a motor carried by said motor-arm and a pinion on the shaft of said motor and engaging said internal gear and disposed in the common vertical plane of the wheel-rim and the internal gear and the vertical housing-pivots, and a pivot uniting the steering-rod to the steering-arm.

WILLIAM N. RUMELY.

Witnesses:

WM. S. JANEs, J. M. EBERHARDT. 

